


The Hanged Man

by Gizzwhizz



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Short One Shot, Tarot, The Hanged Man - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22562413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gizzwhizz/pseuds/Gizzwhizz
Summary: The Astrals do not think like mortal men, Leviathan least of all.For the Tides of Fate: A FFXV Tarot Project
Kudos: 8
Collections: Tides of Fate: A FFXV Tarot Project





	The Hanged Man

**Author's Note:**

> This was my piece for the Tides of Fate: A FFXV Tarot Project. It was a joy to bring Leviathan to life with the collaboration of Lilith5th who did the breathtaking art for the card (Go Team Leviathan!). This story is for card XII: The Hanged Man.

Leviathan towered over the slip of a girl who had dared to summon her from her long slumber. She was all the might of the seas given corporeal form, and now this mortal—Oracle or no—dared to disturb her. Worse, she presumed to ask that Leviathan lend her powers to a king who was not a king at all, but only a boy. She was an Astral. A God. What did the lives of mere mortals matter to her? 

Yet, she had helped shape this world, at its beginning, and sworn to help protect it. What was more, the presence of the Starscourge was growing; the Hydraean could taste it on the air. Could she really refuse the covenant with this boy-king, knowing that? Lending her power felt like stooping, however, and pride made her stall, hissing defiance at the miniscule Oracle. 

Her indecision was costly. 

To an immortal being, it felt as though the world turned on its head in an instant. First, fighting broke out amongst the mortals, and then the boy-king was clinging somewhere near her eye. And before she could even comprehend _that_ pesky problem, Titan was throwing all of his might against her swirling tides. He didn’t truly hurt her, but he did prove the Oracle’s words: some of her brethren had already given themselves over to the boy.

Afterwards, all was ruin. The beautiful city she’d slept beneath was a husk. The seas were still roiling, though her outrage had quelled and her influence had fled, and somewhere in all of it the flame of the Oracle had been snuffed out. It was only as Leviathan looked upon her broken form that she recognized the girl had been weakened, sickly, even, and had likely called upon her knowing it might very well be her last act. 

Leviathan spared a thought to what was the purpose of power without sacrifice, or the advantage of forever looking down on “lesser” beings. It struck her, as she sank back beneath the waves, that had she truly wished to refuse the Oracle’s request, there would have been no need for heated words at all. As the water closed over her head, she felt a piece of her ancient soul give way, forging the covenant with the child-king and granting him her blessing. If that girl could give of herself so freely, then surely Leviathan could as well.


End file.
